8 Horror Games You Should Play With the Lights Off
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Ha, good old Dead Space. I've never found the game itself to be scary. Tense, yes, and panic-inducing at certain parts, but downright fear never crept into my mind. I do completely agree that the concept behind what is happening--an invisible signal that you can't defend against slowly driving you mad--is utterly terrifying, and if I was in Isaac's shoes, I would have crawled into a corner and cried. But the game itself never really scared me beyond, "BOO! Ha, surprised you!"
Alan Wake I do indeed love. The story is clearly the selling point on that game, though I don't consider it horror. As you said, it's more of a thriller, and a good one at that. Wish they could make a proper sequel to it.
Alien: Isolation made me swear when the alien first appeared. I was waiting for the tram to arrive, and the feeling was just, "You should be hiding, because it's coming," and so I hid in the corner while the light flashed. I kept checking everywhere, but saw nothing. Finally, the tram arrived and I got on. I turned around to look, and there was still nothing. I waited for a few seconds, and then it was like straight out of the movie. The alien came out of this fog, hissing, and I jumped, screamed, and slammed the door closed. Good indication of what to expect further in.
I never beat Silent Hill 2. That game gave me nightmares. Yeah, it was that scary for me. I beat Silent Hill 3, which terrified me too, but 2 was just too much. Maybe one day...
Alan Wake I do indeed love. The story is clearly the selling point on that game, though I don't consider it horror. As you said, it's more of a thriller, and a good one at that. Wish they could make a proper sequel to it.
Alien: Isolation made me swear when the alien first appeared. I was waiting for the tram to arrive, and the feeling was just, "You should be hiding, because it's coming," and so I hid in the corner while the light flashed. I kept checking everywhere, but saw nothing. Finally, the tram arrived and I got on. I turned around to look, and there was still nothing. I waited for a few seconds, and then it was like straight out of the movie. The alien came out of this fog, hissing, and I jumped, screamed, and slammed the door closed. Good indication of what to expect further in.
I never beat Silent Hill 2. That game gave me nightmares. Yeah, it was that scary for me. I beat Silent Hill 3, which terrified me too, but 2 was just too much. Maybe one day...
Missed opportunity I think for a few indy games like Limbo, Lone Survivor or The Forest (Early access, I know). Hell, even 1982's Monster maze was a great one to play in the dark alongside non horror games like 'Sir you are being hunted' and the original Thief. Can't believe System Shock wasn't there though.
I still wonder, why people claim that Dead Space is a Horror game? Yes, there are gruesome aliens that want to eat your face off and you're alone and it's dark. But you're also armed to the teeth and there is never a feeling of "there is something here, please don't let me find it - or it find me" but "where's dem aliens? Lemme shoot more aliens!"
Alan Wake on the list is also a surprise, but a positive one (didn't think that it was still remembered). One of the few games I played through in one go. Well, almost, played the first chapter, then took a break of a day - then rocked through the entire rest of the game, including the two DLCs (PC has them right away
), even forgetting what 'sleep' was during that time.
Alan Wake on the list is also a surprise, but a positive one (didn't think that it was still remembered). One of the few games I played through in one go. Well, almost, played the first chapter, then took a break of a day - then rocked through the entire rest of the game, including the two DLCs (PC has them right away
), even forgetting what 'sleep' was during that time.
Huh, no "Five Nights at Freddy's". Kinda surprised. Albeit I can't even play that game without the light on due to how unnerving it is.
No Project zero/Fatal Frame? Tut tut. Missed a juicy one there.
Alan Wake was a nice surprise, it sort of grabbed me straight away and just compulsively played it through in 1 or 2 sitting i think. Not scary if i remember, but what was there was good and i hope for some continuation with various adjustments to perhaps make it scary.
Alan Wake was a nice surprise, it sort of grabbed me straight away and just compulsively played it through in 1 or 2 sitting i think. Not scary if i remember, but what was there was good and i hope for some continuation with various adjustments to perhaps make it scary.
Meh for a lot of them.
Liked Amnesia, though a shame Machine for Pigs didn't make it.
Alan Wake was just goofy. I mean, really. It's as bad as a Stephen King book! Maybe if you thought Maximum Overdrive was scary...
Dead Space was never scary; its just Resident Evil 6 in space. No pacing, no atmosphere(ironically), no real character development. And really no sense of isolation. You're always fighting T-virus zombies! Err...I mean giant mutant space...zombies...
Outlast, I agree with.
Condemned? Yeah, alright. Pretty scary and immersive game, so sure.
Alien Isolation was way more frustrating than scary.
Silent Hill 2...again, not that scary. It's most a boredom simulator in an empty town, and the parts that aren't boring at laughably bad, with cheesy PS2 90s era dialogue. Even the big guy, Pyramid Head. He's a singular foe, sure. Threatening and dangerous. But not an object of terror.
Never played any of the Call of Cthulhu games. Any recommendations?
Liked Amnesia, though a shame Machine for Pigs didn't make it.
Alan Wake was just goofy. I mean, really. It's as bad as a Stephen King book! Maybe if you thought Maximum Overdrive was scary...
Dead Space was never scary; its just Resident Evil 6 in space. No pacing, no atmosphere(ironically), no real character development. And really no sense of isolation. You're always fighting T-virus zombies! Err...I mean giant mutant space...zombies...
Outlast, I agree with.
Condemned? Yeah, alright. Pretty scary and immersive game, so sure.
Alien Isolation was way more frustrating than scary.
Silent Hill 2...again, not that scary. It's most a boredom simulator in an empty town, and the parts that aren't boring at laughably bad, with cheesy PS2 90s era dialogue. Even the big guy, Pyramid Head. He's a singular foe, sure. Threatening and dangerous. But not an object of terror.
Never played any of the Call of Cthulhu games. Any recommendations?
For everyone talking about Dead Space, I hear ya. For some reason, that game just worked on me. I got way more tension out of it than many pure horror games.
For those of you praising Alan Wake, you rock.
For those of you praising Alan Wake, you rock.
I never got the "scary" bit of Five Nights. It always felt more...I don't know...annoying? Like anyone who works in a Chuck-E-Cheese knockoff is going to scared by the animatronics coming to life. It's the kids that come during business hours that are terrifying.Ignatz_Zwakh said:
I don't want to get in an argument about PT, so I won't. I'll just say that it was more commercial than game.Remus said:
I dunno, something about the sound design and how helpless the player is always bothered the hell outta me. That unnerving feeling of something closing in and me being helpless to fend it off. On the other hand, I also found the game hysterically funny. Whenever I died I was initially like "ERMAGAW" terrified but then broke down laughing at how goofy the whole ordeal is.ffronw said:
That and mascots are creepy as balls.
Alan Wake isn't horror. It's just action.
It could be scary IF and I mean IF the game didn't decide to change music and have a cut scene for EVERY SINGLE ENCOUNTER in the game. It really takes the scary part away from the game when you know they are coming. Also it's just shadowy people which ain't all that scary to begin with.
Then for Dead Space. I'm sorry but no. This game relied mostly on jump scares that goes "BOO!" to scare you. But when you where armed with a powerful gun(Or rather, the first gun in the game) monsters stop being scary because there is no threat any longer.
I haven't played the others so I wouldn't know about them.
A game that I think would fit nicely on the list is Penumbra Overture. Not Black Plague because all you do there is run away from monsters. Overture is far better as you have to encounter the enemies and with it's rather unique melee system you'll be having all sort of scary moments. Atmosphere is perfect too. Alone on a base in the middle of the arctic?
It could be scary IF and I mean IF the game didn't decide to change music and have a cut scene for EVERY SINGLE ENCOUNTER in the game. It really takes the scary part away from the game when you know they are coming. Also it's just shadowy people which ain't all that scary to begin with.
Then for Dead Space. I'm sorry but no. This game relied mostly on jump scares that goes "BOO!" to scare you. But when you where armed with a powerful gun(Or rather, the first gun in the game) monsters stop being scary because there is no threat any longer.
I haven't played the others so I wouldn't know about them.
A game that I think would fit nicely on the list is Penumbra Overture. Not Black Plague because all you do there is run away from monsters. Overture is far better as you have to encounter the enemies and with it's rather unique melee system you'll be having all sort of scary moments. Atmosphere is perfect too. Alone on a base in the middle of the arctic?
In defense of deadspace, there is a feeling that something is there as you called it, perhaps it's more like something is gonna jump you at any time since you can hear all kinds of sounds coming from the walls and then nothing happens until a couple of moments later you are getting swarmed by them with limited ammo. Maybe i wouldn't call it scary, tense perhaps? I don't really know what scary is supposed to be, i think i watched too many horror movies as a kid.Bindal said:I still wonder, why people claim that Dead Space is a Horror game? Yes, there are gruesome aliens that want to eat your face off and you're alone and it's dark. But you're also armed to the teeth and there is never a feeling of "there is something here, please don't let me find it - or it find me" but "where's dem aliens? Lemme shoot more aliens!"
Alan Wake on the list is also a surprise, but a positive one (didn't think that it was still remembered). One of the few games I played through in one go. Well, almost, played the first chapter, then took a break of a day - then rocked through the entire rest of the game, including the two DLCs (PC has them right away